49ers are the Unanimous Top Pick in the First Media Poll of 2018

All ten voters selected Long Beach State as their top team on their ballot in the first Off the Block/Springbak media poll of 2018. The 49ers are fresh off a successful Midwest road trip, where they defeated Lewis and Loyola. The 49ers will visit the Farm this weekend to take on Stanford.

UCLA is off to a 5-0 start, and beat out out Ohio State for the 2nd spot in the media poll by two points. The Bruins rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat UC Irvine on January 10th.
Ohio State is third, after losing to BYU in #CincoSets in Columbus, this past Saturday. Both the Bruins and Buckeyes will face off on Saturday in Westwood as part of the AVCA Men’s College Showcase Tournament.

BYU beat out Hawai’i for the fourth spot in the media, on the strength of their road victory over Ohio State. The Cougars’ lone blemish is a five set home loss to Loyola-Chicago.
Hawaii takes the fifth spot as the Rainbow Warriors are 6-0, including five sweeps.

Rounding out the top 10 are UC Irvine, Loyola, CSUN, Penn State, and Pepperdine.

Also receiving votes were Lewis, Grand Canyon, Lindenwood, St. Francis, and Stanford.

The Week 3 media poll will be released next Tuesday, January 23.

The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Media Poll is the only rankings in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball solely determined by media members. The 10 teams receiving the most votes are ranked in the National Media Poll, while other schools earning votes but finishing outside of the top 10 are considered teams receiving votes.

Off the Block is a website that started in January 2011 and has become the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage. Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the National Media Poll and produces high performance footwear used by professional athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB and U.S. Olympic teams and the top college teams in the nation.